Give each child two circles cut out of light blue construction paper. One
circle needs to be a little smaller than the other one. Have the child glue
these circles on dark blue construction paper. Use the large circle as the
body and the smaller circle as the head. Let the kids decorate the bird with
feathers and markers.

~Submitted by Andrea

Bird Feeder

Punch four holes near the top of an orange or grapefruit rind. Attach to a
tree limb with string and put bird seeds inside.

~Submitted by Andrea

Feather Painting

Let the kids paint on paper using feathers instead of paintbrushes.

~Submitted by Andrea

Squawking Toucan Beaks

Provide each child with a snow cone cup. (cone-shaped) Let them decorate
their "beaks" with colorful markers. Allow them to spend some time on this
project. You may want to hang some colorful pictures of real toucans near the
table to show how colorful toucans are. Use a hole punch to make a hole on
each side and tie a piece of yarn to each side to hold the beak onto the
child's face.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Outside---Flying Parrots

Let the children put on their parrot beaks from the cut & color table. If you
have colorful scarves, let them take turns making their scarves dance as they
fly through the air squawking like a parrot. The teacher should be wearing a
beak. She should fly first and call to her babies to fly with her. If you do
not have colorful scarves, use paper streamers. Ahead of time, cut paper
streamers into long strips and tape them together at one end. The children
can make the streamers dance as they fly through the air.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Bird's Nest

Supplies: Construction Paper, Glue, Cardboard, Yarn, Markers

Use scissors to cut the shapes of birds eggs from construction paper. Glue the eggs onto cardboard. Glue short strands of yarn under the eggs for a nest and allow them to dry completely. Use markers to draw tree branches around the nest and speckles on the eggs. Draw leaves or use real ones, or felt (whatever) to make leaves on the branches. Variations: Wash and dry pieces or
real eggshells. Glue them on top of the yard nests.Talk about the kinds of birds that live in your area. Compare their sizes, shapes, and colors. Take a walk and look for nests in trees. Talk about the materials that birds use to build nests and how high or low the nests are in the trees.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Birds

Cut the silhouette of a bird's body from construction paper. Then the children cut kind of a bananna shape from construction paper for the wings. They glued on paper punches for eyes and colored feathers on the wings. Some of the children colored the birds bodies. Then we cut about a 1 inch slit in the back of the bird and a 1 inch slit in the wings and fit them together with the curve of the wings going up. Tape the wings in place to make them
more secure and tie a string to the back of the bird. The kids had a great time flying them around.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Bag Owls

Loosely stuff a bag full of crumbled newspaper. Bring the top together & fold the two outer edges in toward the center & glue to form a point. Fold the point down. Cut eyes & feet from construction paper & glue to the owl. Big grocery bags will make grandfather owl, small candy bags turn into baby owls, & all sizes between are the flock.

Give children an outline of bird or have them draw their own...fairly large because the wings and tail will be craft sticks. Paint the sticks to match the body color...we did the blue bird of happiness! Use 2 sticks for the wing and three for the tail-the suggestion is to have the middle stick of the tail
out more than the other two.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Bird feeder

We used large coffee can with both ends cut out, then cut a piece of wood that goes just about 1/2 way up and put in both ends, then hooked a piece of wire on the top so you could hang it. Then we let the kids paint with misc. house paint we had. We had leftover pastel colors from painting the handprints in the daycare room and the kids gave them to their parents for Easter. It has been almost a year since we have done this and the parents and kids still talk about them. I also sent home a ziplock bag full of bird seed with each feeder to start them out. Just make sure that you ask your parents to send the kids in clothes they don't care about that day. We hung the two my son's made in a tree right outside one of the daycare windows. I also bought this year a bird feeder that suction cups to the window, it is made so you can see the birds but they can't see you. We also
just put up a birdhouse that you suction cup on the window and hang a piece
of cardboard on the inside, so you can see the birds in their house. We are
waiting and hoping some birds will decide to move in.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Bird in a Bird's Nest

Make a bird in a birds nest by giving them half a paper plate, let them add skinny brown rectangles for twigs.....use some real twigs if you have them, and pieces of string, and whatever else you may have...to glue on plate for nest. Then either do a footprint in yellow, add beak, eye and legs, or dip the side of their hand in yellow (or whatever color their bird is) paint and
add finger print toes....then beak, eye and legs. Glue bird into nest.

*Paint on egg shaped easel paper with blue tempera paint that has sand added. These make pretty robin eggs.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Fluffy Birds

Glue 2 popsicle sticks together to form a cross. Glue real colored or paper feathers onto the cross leaving the top for a head. Glue paper head on top OR use markers as eyes & beak.

Cut out patterns, paint wings and tail feathers. Cut out patterns Use red or blue watercolors or markers to paint the craft sticks. Paint fronts, sides, and backs. Let dry. (Hint: If using watercolors, don't get the brush too wet, or color will look "washed out.") Assemble the bird. Glue yellow beak to head, making sure beak covers pointed "beak" area on head and that sides of beak and head are even. Glue wiggle eye to head just behind beak. For wings, glue two craft sticks side by side and angling downward on top of body. Let dry. For tail, turn bird over so back is facing up. Glue three craft sticks side by side and angling upward to back of body. Make sure the end of the center "feather" sticks out slightly farther than other
feathers. For hanger, cut and fold an eight-inch length of thread, string, or yarn in half. Knot ends together forming a loop. Tape hanger to back of body. Use marker to write name on bird. Hang on bulletin board or window.

Encourage the children use the feathers to paint a light and airy picture.
Remind them that the less paint they put on their feathers the more feathery
the painting will be. When they are finished painting, let them stick small,
fluffy feathers into the paint. This will be beautiful! Talk about how the
feather look & feel--what colors they are.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Paper Plate Owl

You will need paper plates (the kind with the ridged edges), circles of orange construction paper for eyes. V-shaped pieces of orange construction paper for bills and claws, a magic marker, brown tempera paint, and glue. Using the magic marker, draw cutting lines on each paper plate at 10, 2, 5 and 7 O'clock, and
along the inner edge of the ridges (these will be the wings). Have the children cut their plates on the lines, then have them paint the pieces of the paper plate with brown tempera paint and let dry. Staple the owl's wings to the bodies for the children (or use brads for more moveable wings). Have the children glue the eyes, beaks and claws onto their owls.

1) Cover your work area with newspaper. To make the bird tail, cut a 6 inch circle out of a paper plate or use a 6 inch paper plate. Cut a narrow strip off the bottom of the paper circle. Paint the paper circle. or decorate with glitter or stickers.
2) Glue the bird Head to the bird body (little circle on top of big circle) Glue the body to the bird tail. Make face any way you want.
3) For the legs and feet, fold the pipecleaner in half. Bend each end of the pipecleaner out about 3/4 inch. Tape the feet to the back of the bird body. adjust the feet so your Rainbow bird will stand up.. (The bird should look like a Peacock or turkey)

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Flamingo

1 large and 1 small pink pompom, pink and yellow pipe cleaner and
wiggly eyes and pink feathers. I used cool melt glue. Make legs with about 4" of pink pipe cleaner. Glue to big pink pompom Cut two 1" pieces of pink pipe cleaner and twist around bottoms of legs to form feet. Cut one 2" piece of pink pipe cleaner for neck. Glue between big and small pink pompom. Cut small piece of yellow pipe cleaner to make beak. Glue beak and wiggly eyes if you want to use them. Glue two pink feathers on each side of big pompom. It doesn't stand up, but my son enjoyed making and playing with it. I made this by looking at a package that came with pompom, feathers and wiggly eyes.

~Submitted by Cheryl's Sweethearts ChildCare

Chick

1 large and 1 small yellow pompom, orange pipe cleaner and wiggly
eyes and yellow feathers. Glue pompoms together. Cut two orange pipe cleaners pieces about 2 inches long, twist centers together, glue on for feet. Cut small beak out of orange pipe cleaner glue to face and add wiggly eyes. Glue some yellow feathers if you have them.